Problem D: Attacks by Neighboring Communities

Problem D: Attacks by Neighboring Communities You must design and draw a defense plan to protect the city. Make a simple drawing of the city, and design your defense plan around it. You are now holding a weapon – a sword or spear- and looking out the window of your home.

Section 6 - Attacks by Neighboring Communities As Sumerian cities grew, they fought over the right to use more water. Sometimes, people in cities located upriver (closer to where the river begins) built new canals or blocked other cities’ canals. In this way, they kept water from reaching the cities that were downriver (farther from where the river begins). Disputes over water became so intense that they often led to bloodshed.

Section 6 - Attacks by Neighboring Communities The Sumerians looked for ways to protect their cities from neighboring communities. The plains provided no natural barriers.There were no mountain ranges or rushing rivers to keep out enemies. The Sumerians began to build strong walls around their cities. They constructed the walls out of mud bricks that were baked in the sun until hard.

Section 6 - Attacks by Neighboring Communities The Sumerians also dug moats outside city walls to help prevent enemies from entering their cities. Most people lived in houses within the walled cities, but the farms lay outside. In case of attack, farmers fled the fields for safety inside the city walls.

Section 6 - Attacks by Neighboring Communities The walled cities of Sumer were like independent countries. Historians call them city-states. By about 3000 B.C.E., most Sumerians lived in city-states.